Notwithstanding slower global growth and lingering impacts of recent catastrophic floods, private sector activity, outside the oil sector, has been supported by a relative return to peace, and higher government spending. Nevertheless, the economy is estimated to have contracted by 0.4 percent in FY23/24, reflecting drags from oil production. Supported …
The United Nations appealed on Monday for more than $US2 billion ($2.28 billion) to feed and care for a record 20 million people across Africa's Sahel belt, but aid workers said they feared donor fatigue and a weak global recovery may prevent them from reaching the target. Conflicts in Mali, …
Pakistan has moved in the most distress category of water scarce countries in the world where per capita availability of water has gone less than 1,000 cubic feet not only because of lack of water availability but the failure of water management and conservation. This was stated by International Water …
This year is the seventh warmest since records began in 1850 with a trend to weather extremes and the impact of storms such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines aggravated by rising sea levels, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday. A build-up of manmade greenhouse gases in the …
LONDON: India is among the "extreme risk" countries of the world where economic impacts of climate change will be most keenly felt by 2025, according to new research released on Wedesday. Kolkata and Mumbai are among the cities where the economic exposure to the impacts of extreme climate related events …
New research suggests that extreme weather events will keep people poor in many parts of the world. The authors argue that where disasters like drought are prevalent, they can be the most important cause of poverty. They say that up to 325 million people will be living in countries highly …
Country’s Hunger Index Has Dropped Three Points, But Stays In ‘Alarming’ Category: Global Hunger Report In a striking irony, the number of hungry people in the world was estimated at 842 million in 2011-13 in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report released on Monday even as world cereal production was …
Group chaired by former UN secretary general urges farmers to shake fear of the unknown and adopt new technologies Concern in Africa over genetically modified crops has been dismissed as fear of the unknown by an environmental group chaired by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general. A report by …
The region around the capital Khartoum is among the worst-hit areas, the WHO says More than 300,000 people across Sudan have been affected by floods that have killed nearly 50 people in August, the World Health Organization has said. It said the region around the capital Khartoum had been particularly …
Stresses on water supplies aggravated by climate change are likely to cause more conflicts and water should be considered as vital to national security as defense, the United Nations report said on Friday. About 145 nations share river basins with their neighbors and need to promote cooperation over a resource …
More than four million South Sudanese, a third of the African country’s population, may go hungry at some point in 2013 despite a higher harvest last year, the United Nations said on Friday. South Sudan’s cereal deficit will be 371,000 tonnes, just over one-third of its total cereal requirement, despite …
Rapid cropland expansion is the main cause of biodiversity loss in tropical countries, a study by UNEP's (the UN Environment Programme) World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative has found. The study, published in PLOS ONE last month (9 January), highlights maize and soybean as the most expansive …
A new task force to focus on the impact of energy on security and to examine ways of preventing energy-related conflict has been launched by the International Peace Institute (IPI). The plan was unveiled at the annual World Future Energy Summit by the IPI, a policy research think tank, and …
In a first of its kind experiment to identify specific trait from country's huge genetic resources, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) has characterised more than 5000 varieties of wheat germplasms for development of better seed varieties which could withstand climate change issues. The national seed bank which operates …
A torrent of water surged Tuesday into Sudan's Blue Nile river as President Omar al-Bashir inaugurated the expanded Roseires dam, which officials say should help develop one of the country's poorest, insurgent-hit regions. When Bashir arrived to open the Arab-funded, Chinese-built expansion before thousands of dancing and flag-waving residents, an …
Bangalore ranks better than New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata amongst Indian cities in overall global quality of living index, according to a Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey. Mercer conducts this survey annually to help multinational companies and other organisations compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. …
New Delhi: Nearly 25 years after HIV was detected in India, travel restrictions continue to bar patients from free movement through nations. HIV-related travel restrictionsexist in 45 countries. The Global AIDS Epidemic 2012 report, released by UNAIDS on Tuesday, says that the effects of such restrictions are severe for migrant …
Wild arabica coffee may be extinct in 70 years, making it harder for plantations to survive long-term, scientists warn Rising temperatures due to climate change could mean wild arabica coffee is extinct in 70 years, posing a risk to the genetic sustainability of one of the world's basic commodities, scientists …
Precise modelling of the influence of climate change on Arabica coffee is limited; there are no data available for indigenous populations of this species. In this study we model the present and future predicted distribution of indigenous Arabica, and identify priorities in order to facilitate appropriate decision making for conservation, …
Mosquito-born yellow fever has killed 32 people in Sudan’s conflict-plagued Darfur region this month, the health ministry said in a statement obtained by AFP on Wednesday. “According to laboratory results, people are affected by yellow fever. The total number affected in the two states is 84, 32 of whom died,” …
This paper addresses two related topics: 1) the circular link between food insecurity and conflict, and 2) the potential role of food security interventions in reducing the risk of violent conflicts. As the 2011 World Development Report notes, conflict comes in many forms. While the traditional security paradigm has focused …
